A Riskier Job Than You'd Think
by ReadingWriting1342
Summary: Prequel to my other story, 'The Other TimeRider'. It shows the recruitment of Freya and Tom, and their original Operative, Freddie and what happened to him. Maybe even right up to when Diana meets Maddy, Sal, Bob, Becks and Liam.
1. Tom's Recruitment

**A/N This is a prequel to my other FanFic, 'The Other TimeRider'. You should probably read that first for everything to make more sense, if you haven't already. Forgive me that my story doesn't always stick to the facts of the books (TR5 & 6), but I'd already written 'The Other TimeRider', and I enjoyed writing about them all so….this long a/n is over. Enjoy!**

Tômas locked his bedroom door behind him. He could still hear them laughing downstairs, Mia, Kylie and Sophie; his genius older sisters. He was a genius too, of course. They'd been mocking him. He'd got the math equation they were working on wrong. They always had to be better, it made his blood boil. Maybe he wasn't _quite _as good at maths as they were, but he was better at ICT. He had to be better than them, at least at _some_thing.

…

"Tom!" Alistair did a double take as he noticed the tall-ish fifteen year old casually hanging about outside the reactor cylinder. "What are you doing? You haven't got your coat or goggles on! Who let you in? What are you up to?" Tom smiled reassuringly and waved a hand casually.  
>"It's OK. I just wanted to ask your scientists some questions, for my science assessment."<br>"Tom, you're only year ten. What goes on here is the kind of science you get in a physics degree. I'd at least save this kind of thing for your A levels"  
>"No way. I have to know, now. I have to! Don't you get it? Mia, Sophie and Kylie are finishing their A levels, if they don't already know this stuff they will soon. I can't let them get too far ahead!" Alistair shook his head.<br>"You're way too paranoid Tom" Alistair observed, shaking his head. Tom ignored his comment.  
>"Can I go on through?" He asked impatiently.<br>"Go on. But get some goggles and a lab coat first. And I need to check that nothing important is going on. They experiment with EMP's in there you know. All you need is one extra strong blast to kill you" Alistair gave Tom one last despairing look and went off to check all was clear. As soon as he turned a corner, Tom looked to the number combination code; too simple. The numbers '2' 5' '1' and '9' were all a tad faded and sticky with sweat.  
>The lab was located in a small town. Mostly because it was somewhere no one would miss if the experiments accidentally blew it up. Tom used to live in Oxford but he'd been forced to move a year or so ago. The place was small enough for him to know that the manager at the science lab had a daughter, born on the 5th of October, 2012, which fit those numbers. Tom keyed in the birth date, and after a warning sign flashed for a moment or two, it let him in.<br>The room was how he expected. Empty, other than the CCTV in the corner which would let Alistair know any second he'd broken in. In the middle was the pulse generator. The orange light was showing which Tom presumed meant it was charging for the next experiment. Footsteps made him turn around on his heels.  
>"Alistair? Sorry, but I-" Tom stopped. It wasn't the new science graduate, but an old man with white hair and a long face.<br>"Who're-"  
>"Who am I?" The man finished. Tom nodded, annoyed. "My name is Amado" Tom frowned a little.<br>"Not a common name. And it's my dad's. I haven't seen you around before, do you-" Amado raised a hand to silence Tom, much to his frustration.  
>"Sorry, we haven't got much time. Take my hand, and you can live. In two minutes Sasha Whitley will press the go ahead for the EMP generator without checking the CCTV. It isn't a little wave, this is serious stuff. You'll be locked in and killed, the electric pulse will kill your cells and there won't be much, if anything, left of you. No one knows that you're in here. Poor Alistair will never even consider that you might have broken in, unless you take my hand right now. I'll take you elsewhere, it'll be a half-life, but-" This time Tom cut him off.<br>"Elsewhere? Without my sisters? Take my hand! Grab hold of it! Get me out of here!" The old man gave a withering look and obliged, as Tom fell down and down into forever.


	2. Freya

Freya looked left and right before crossing the road. It was a main one and was normally bustling about. If you wanted to cross it you had to hope some sympathetic young driver would pause whilst you ran across praying to God that you wouldn't die.  
>But it was nearly eleven at night and the only vehicle was the odd motorbike speeding at ninety miles an hour.<br>Once the road was crossed Freya had to navigate through a maze of back alley-ways that were dark, dank and scary. Freya hated walking home like this.  
>Her hands tightened into stiff fists when she saw a mysterious hooded figure hiding in the shadows. She had to stop herself from whimpering like a little girl when she saw there were others. She breathed out slowly in relief when they let her pass, but screamed when she heard the gunshot.<br>One of the men behind her had a gun. Someone had shot at her.  
>"Shut up! They found us now" Someone yelled at her. Then another gunshot further off made her scream again.<p>

Her eyes darted around crazily, and she panicked again when she saw another dark figure appearing from the direction of the gunshot. Her pulse calmed ever so slightly when she saw it was an old man.  
>"We need to get out of here!" Freya half-called, half-cried. "We're stuck in the middle of some gang war!" He smiled sadly.<br>"I know. I've come here for you, because in perhaps two minutes, Kevin Carter will shoot into the darkness with his Desert Eagle pistol and accidentally shoot you in the neck. You will be dead instantly, unless you come with me"  
>"Why?" Freya's legs were shaking. She needed caffeine and a sit-down. "I-is there s-somewhere we c-can hide?"<br>"If you take my hand I'll take you away. You won't die…but you'll have to leave your family and friends behind. Five other people will be killed in this shooting."  
>"But I can't leave! Uh…My A levels!"<br>"I'm sorry Freya. You do have a choice. Here, you'll die. Or you can come with me. It won't be a life, not a proper one, but…" Freya took a steadying breath. Gunshots were echoing around near them now. Freya grabbed his hand.  
>"Quick" She whispered.<p> 


	3. Freddie

**A/N Sorry for any bad grammar. Whilst writing out the French bit Word changed the grammar to **_**French **_**grammar (Which is a little like German grammar. Maybe they're the same). I wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or glad that my deliberately terrible French was good enough to be recognised by my laptop. And also you may be wondering who Frederick is. Well, if you've read 'The Other TimeRider' you may have noticed that Diana says that Freya and Tom had been TimeRiders longer than her, and that she was their second operative. Freddie is operative number one. **

Freddie sucked in a breath and held it. He stared at a specific mud clot in front of him and tried to think happy thoughts

What happy thoughts? This was war. Real war.

They'd made it sound good, made it sound heroic, glamorous and brave to fight for England like this, but this wasn't what he expected. Mud, mud, mud. Rain, blood, lice, bad food. Oh! And more mud.  
>And now they were going in to battle. He'd only been out here, by the River Somme, for a few weeks and already he faced imminent death. Well, he faced imminent death every day. Going to the toilet could cost you your life these days.<p>

"Frederick," Someone nudged him. He wasn't sure who it was, maybe Ed but it was hard to tell. Everyone had brown hair, from the mud. Everyone had brown clothes, from the mud, and God be darned if he could see the man's face past all that mud! Freddie grunted in response.  
>"We're moving. This is it" Freddie took another breath and clutched his bayonet closer.<br>Just before he could move forward, someone grabbed his arm strongly to stop him.  
>"Frederick" They said softly, a contrast to how people normally talked these days; loud, to be heard over the sounds of death and its acolytes.<br>"Ed? I said I'm-" Freddie turned to see it wasn't Eddie, but an old man. Too old to be in the army. And he wasn't even wearing uniform. A French civilian?  
>"Sir, you have to leave the area immediately, we're going to battle, and you'll be injured! Uhh…<em>Parlez-vous Anglais? <em>Um..._Tu…tu…Aller! Ne pas bien! __Tu aller!" _Frederick said in faltering French. It had never been his strong subject at school. But the man shook his head.  
>"I'm English" He said with a strange look on his face and Frederick couldn't help but sigh in relief. "I'm here to take you away. If you go to battle now then you'll be killed, I promise. Take my hand and you'll live." Freddie looked at the hand but shook his head.<br>"Sorry. If I die…then…Then I will have died serving the King. No greater honour" He said firmly, but not quite so resolute on the inside.  
>"You'll be serving a much greater power if you come with me" The man insisted.<br>"Greater than the King?" Freddie remembered the answer to this one from school. "Only God is greater than the King" He said, hoping that if the old man was religious he wouldn't pick up the sarcastic boredom in his voice.  
>"Serving mankind. You could save the Earth many times over if you come with me" Freddie looked to his unidentifiable friends marching away without him and he admitted to himself he was scared. Slowly, hesitantly, he took the old man's wrinkled hand in his mud coated one and nodded.<p> 


	4. The London Underground

Tom found himself in a dark corridor, still clutching Amado's hand.  
>"Funny," Amado said. "People normally pass out the first time"<br>"First time?" Tom asked.  
>"First time they travel through time" Tom's jaw dropped down.<br>"Really?" He asked eagerly. The man nodded in confirmation. "Come with me" Amado led Tom to a door further along the corridor. He grunted as he pushed against it with his shoulder and the door swung back.  
>"Wait in here. I'll probably be some time. Don't leave" Amado shut Tom in and locked the door with a good old-fashioned key. Tom couldn't hack a key, Amado probably knew that. Tom crossed his arms indignantly, and insulted at being locked away in a room on his own; not trusted. He wanted to see the world outside, wanted to see another time but instead he'd been locked in his room like a naughty child.<br>He looked around. Two bunk beds lined the walls and were nothing to speak of. They looked as if they might fall down from one little push and needed cleaning. Exploring, he discovered that instead of a way out, the other door led to a windowless bathroom. Eventually, Tom sat down cross legged on the floor and began doing math equations on the concrete with the pencil in his pocket.

About half an hour later Amado unlocked the door. Tom was about to run out and find someone to help him, but he had a girl in his arms, maybe a few years older than him. She had blonde hair and odd-ish clothes and seemed completely out of it.  
>"Help me get her on to a bed?" Amado asked and Tom moved silently to help. He wasn't going to talk to the man, he decided. Perhaps when she woke up the girl could help him find out what was happening and escape. Perhaps the girl knew what was going on.<p>

Another half an hour later the girl was still out cold on her bed, Tom was still dying of boredom and he could hear Amado struggling down the corridor, presumably weighed down with another body. Tom rolled his eyes and looked out of the window in the door. Amado was just approaching the door, having seemingly abandoned the body. He opened the door and then pulled the body in. Tom was expecting another normal person, like the girl but this time Amado held a boy, probably around the same age as the girl.

It wouldn't have been particularly remarkable, except for the fact that the boy was covered, literally, _covered_, head-to-toe in mud.  
>"What happened to <em>him?" <em>Tom asked. Amado smiled nervously.  
>"I'll explain later. For now let's just say he was dragged through a hedge backwards"<br>"Only one hedge? Are you sure he wasn't dragged backwards through most of the English countryside. Somewhere very wet and muddy, the lakes perhaps, then left for a year in a mud puddle," Tom stopped as he noticed something on the boy's skin. "Before being eaten alive by lice?" Amado didn't smile. He looked deadly serious.  
>"Something like that. I need to go fix some things. There's a bath in that room, so you can clean him up."<br>"What? No way! What if he wakes up whilst he's in the bath, with me leaning over him? How do I explain that one away?" Amado put the boy down on the floor, and left the room in a hurry. Tom looked from the boy to the door leading to the bathroom in disgust.  
>He unwillingly undressed the boy and lowered him into the bath, before realising that he hadn't filled it. He turned on the taps and left the room. Bored, he saw the girl and decided to try and wake her. He began poking her in the arm.<p>

By the tenth poke he was beginning to lose hope, but suddenly he was knocked to the ground with a forceful punch. He rubbed his jaw.  
>"Ow!" He moaned.<br>"Quit poking me!" Someone replied.  
>"Uh…I was just trying to wake you up…" Tom explained.<br>"Oh." The girl replied, sitting up and bright red. "Sorry, are you OK?" Tom only grunted in response. No, he wasn't OK. That girl had a mean punch, but he wasn't going to admit it. After a moment of awkward silence, the girl offered out her hand.  
>"I'm Freya Daly. Who are you?"<br>"Tômas Rodriquez Valdez-Hellstrom" He said, shaking the hand but still rubbing his jaw indignantly.  
>"I really am sorry. You have a funny name." She said again. Tom rolled his eyes and ignored the comment on his name. He'd heard it all before. He was more interested in an apology.<br>"Want to prove it?" He offered. Freya leapt at the chance.  
>"Sure!" She said, standing. Tom pointed to the bathroom door and Freya walked through.<br>"Oh my…" Tom heard. He grinned evilly. Perhaps it wasn't nice…but she'd punched him. "Can I have some help with this?" She pleaded. Tom stood up and decided to toughen up. Time to go clean mud-boy.

Freya was surprisingly efficient at cleaning; she only cleaned and never spoke. Tom felt awkward, cleaning a naked boy with a girl he'd known for only minutes. Then Freya stopped.  
>"Where am I?" She asked out of the blue.<br>"What?" Tom asked, taken aback.  
>"It just came to me; last I remember I was in the middle of some shooting. Then this man said he could take me away. So where am I?" Tom shrugged.<br>"I don't know. We can ask Amado when he comes back. That's the man you were talking about. Because last I remember I was in the labs."  
>"The labs?" Freya asked. Tom waved the question away with his hand. Freya shook her head. "Let's get him out of here" She said, lifting him out. "You get to re-dress him"<br>"Are there any more clothes? The ones he came in…" They looked to the brown mess of cloth on the floor. Tom counted at least five lice, and that was from several metres away.  
>"That's it. I'm finding this Amado guy." Freya said decisively, leaving the boy soaking wet on the ground. She left the room briskly and Tom was left staring at the boy. In the end, he just left him there. Hopefully the shock of waking up wet, naked and alone was less than waking up wet and naked with two strangers staring at you.<p>

Freya was fiddling with the keyhole. Tom didn't understand what she was doing until he saw there was a hair slide in the keyhole and that was what Freya was fiddling with.  
>"Do you know how to pick a lock then?" He asked, intrigued.<br>"Nope" Freya answered.  
>"If it was a number combination I'd have us out in a whip" Tom told her. Freya stood up, momentarily abandoning the hair clip.<br>"Oh really? Well it isn't" She said, blowing a loose strand of blonde hair out of her face. Presumably the hair clip had been holding it back. She sighed and went back to the keyhole.  
>A minute or so later, a loud click was audible. For a moment they were still and silent. Could it really have worked? Freya pushed the handle down carefully and pulled. Nothing. Then Tom remembered what had happened when he'd first been escorted to that room.<br>"Wait," He said. He pulled on the door using all his weight, and a second later the door opened stiffly. They both grinned in victory.

A lit corridor awaited them. Along the walls were adverts for movies and books.  
>"I've read that one!" Tom laughed, looking closer at one advert. Freya gave him a funny look.<br>"I've never heard of it" She said. "Is it good?"  
>"Yeah, it's about math, not sure if you'd like it, although it's hilarious. You should definitely give it a go." Freya pretended to look interested. She preferred ActionAdventure/Romance, and was partial to the odd trashy novel here and there. She wouldn't say no to an old Terry Pratchett discworld novel either, they'd been her old Auntie Ady's favourites.  
>They walked down the brashly lit corridor for some time, before Tom stopped in realisation.<br>"I know where we are" He stated. Freya raised her eyebrows in interest. "It's an underground station. One of the London ones, I'd guess" He said, nodding to a WICKED advert for the London theatre. The stations had been showing that one every time Tom visited the capital city, which was weird because he'd been there a good few times over several years. Freya tilted her head.  
>"Kinda looks like one from some old film, I guess" She noted. Tom shrugged as they walked forward. She sure watched some odd films.<p>

"That's a platform up ahead" Tom pointed. Freya sped up her pace.  
>When they reached the platform, Tom stopped in awe. They were so beautiful! He walked forward in a trance and stroked the monitor of a computer.<br>"Do you two want to be left alone?" Freya giggled. Tom glared at her.  
>"Look at these! They're…they're…State of the art! More than that, it's like…I don't know. Just look at them…" Freya couldn't help but laugh, but she noticed the man before Tom did.<br>"Oh, I see you're awake now. Sorry I had to leave you in there; I needed to do some tidying up. Tom made everything inconvenient by not blacking out. I'm sure you have plenty of questions, I'll answer them in a second." The man smiled friendlily at Freya, then turned to Tom. "Put that computer down" He instructed firmly, and Tom reluctantly looked away from the incredible treasure trove of technology.

…  
>The man took a sip from a cup of tea that had been on the same desk the computers were on. "I suppose you've left poor Frederick on his own back there?"<br>"Umm, the naked boy?" Freya said, suddenly at a loss for words. "And we need a towel and some clothes for him. He's also very naked" Amado laughed.


	5. An Introduction to the Agency

First Freddie was aware that he was wet. Then that he was cold. Lastly, that he was naked.

Opening his eyes he could only tell he was on a stone floor string at a stone ceiling. The last thing he could remember was taking the old man's hand….

Oh no. The man had been a German spy! All German spies spoke good English, he should have known! Now they were going to torture him for information!

…

"Are you sure they'll fit?" Freya asked Amado.  
>"I'm sure" He replied.<br>"And, where did you say we were again?" She asked casually. Tom shook his head. Freya kept on trying to fool him, to get him to answer her questions. She'd throw in a sneaky one every now and then. Tom appreciated her perseverance but it was getting old.  
>Amado opened the stiff door again, but instead of the empty room they were expecting, the boy sat on one of the beds, with a duvet wrapped around him. He stood up went they entered.<br>"You're the spy! The German spy!" He yelled, obviously distressed. He backed away and Tom averted his eyes. Freya took pity.  
>"No, we're English, see? I know all four verses to 'God Save the King'" She began to sing, but the boy nodded hurriedly, clearly not wanting to spend the next five minutes listening to her praising the monarch. Tom gave Freya an odd look.<br>"Don't you mean 'God Save the Queen'?"  
>"No…The Queen died a good few years back, may she rest in peace et cetera. It's King William now. How hard did you hit your head when Amado dumped you here?"<br>"Aha." Amado said, ending the conversation. I think now is the perfect time to explain. Come with me, we have a kitchen down the corridor. I'll make some tea."

…

"So. Let me explain. You have all been recruited to work for the agency. This agency is slightly…abnormal. We fix time when things go wrong, because time travel should never have existed, but it does. The first machine was built by a Roald Waldstein, but he saw straight away it would destroy mankind." Amado cleared his throat. "Have you all been introduced to each other?"  
>"Tômas Rodriquez Valdez-Hellström" Tom said distractedly. He was doing the math in his head, trying to figure out if time travel really <em>was <em>possible. If he could just figure this out he'd have beaten Mia, Sophie and Kylie for life!  
>"I'm Freya Daly" Freya said, thinking about all those times her book-crazy cousin had jabbered on to her about science-fiction. What was that one she really liked? She'd explained the entire storyline to her, something about some boy on the <em>Titanic. <em>She'd never bothered to listen.  
>"My name is Frederick Christopher Rory Baker" Freddie answered, shaking his head and wondering when he was going to wake up, but still grateful for the first dream not filled with death he'd had in ages. He put out a hand for them to shake. Freya's arm twitched uncomfortably, but no one took it.<br>"Your job is to fix time when it goes wrong, because some people want to change history. But it'll rip the fabric of the universe apart. Mankind isn't ready for this kind of technology and it's your job to make sure history stays the way it should be." Amado paused to let it sink in. They were all looking at him with various degrees of disbelief painted on their faces.  
>"So now, to where we all are" Amado said, instantly catching the attention of all three. "Maybe I should show you."<p>

Amado led them back along the corridor then up some broken escalators. "I don't normally use this route; but it opens up closer the city centre though so it's more convenient this time. Remind me to show you the normal way in and out later" Freya shook her head.  
>"How about showing us all around?"<br>"That too" They reached a boarded up entrance, and Amado sighed. "All the entrances are blocked, but the ones I use more often open I built doors into. I'm afraid we're going to have to go under this one though," Amado smiled apologetically, but none of them responded.  
>Once outside, Freya could see that they were in a city or outside of one anyway. Amado led them this way and that whilst all of them looked about, confused. Almost every minute Freddie opened his mouth and begun a question, but Amado waved it aside with, 'You'll find out in a second'.<br>Upon first seeing the giant structure they all gasped.  
>"We're in <em>London?" <em>Freya asked, hands over her mouth.  
>"We only went to <em>London? <em>After all that time travel build-up?" Tom said, his arms crossed and quite annoyed.  
>"<em>What?"<em> Freddie yelled. "What is happening? How are we in _London? _How long was I unconscious?_"_ Amado smiled privately whilst Freya, Freddie and Tom gave him strange looks.  
>"Freya," He said, looking at Freddie and Tom. "is from 2025. Tom is from 2015 and Freddie here," He put a hand on Freddie's shoulder. "is from 1916. I just picked him out of the Battle of Somme. And you are all now, quite right, in London. The year now is 2039" All their faces were the same, full of amazement and wonder. A thousand questions each. Then Tom breathed out.<br>"Freya, ah, uh, tell me! Have you got a cure for cancer? Flying cars? Oh, do you know how Alistair's project's going with his electricity?" Freya folded her arms crossly.  
>"No cure for cancer, sorry. Although I imagine the medicine is better. And flying cars? I thought you were clever! You've been trying to convince me of that for the best part of the hour I've known you. I mean really? That's just plain silly. And how do you expect me to know every last one of your friends?" Tom sighed.<br>"You have to think, the technological advancement in computers from 2000 to 2010. That's the same amount of time separating where-no, _when _we're from." An awkward silence caused them to look at Freddie, who was still gaping around.  
>"Uh…" Freya began, putting a hand on Freddie's shoulder, looking for a response. "Frederick?" She asked.<br>"Freddie" He mumbled. He pointed to Big Ben, which they could just see over the buildings. "I can't believe it's still here! When did you say we were, sir?" Freddie asked Amado. Amado grinned.  
>"I've been waiting for this. You are all, not just in London, but in 2039. Does Big Ben seem any smaller to you? It's sinking into the Thames, along with the Houses of Parliament." Freya squinted at the clock tower.<br>"2039?" Freya was stunned into silence for a moment, still squinting, but it was becoming just another thing to add to the list of incredible things that were happening that day. "And Big Ben? Really? It doesn't seem any smaller. Then again, I can only see the very top. Not to mention I don't go to London very often"  
>"Can we look around?" Tom asked. "To, uh, get to know the place? I only really know my way from Marylebone to the Thames and around the Underground. Um, are we going to be here long?" Amado smiled once more, sadly. Freya was getting tired of his teeth and Tom was wondering how he kept them so white. Freddie had made up his mind that they were definitely false.<br>"You're going to be here for the rest of your lives, I'm afraid. And as for looking around, go ahead. I'm sure it's quite changed from when you last saw it, Freddie"  
>"I only came here once. I'm not very accustomed to city life."<br>"Um, Mr Amado?" Freya asked nervously. "What if we don't want to be here? What if we want to walk away?"  
>"Then I'm afraid it's back to those alleyways for you. Back to the experiment room for Tom, and back to war for Freddie. It's fine if you don't want to stay, but-"<br>"No, no! I'm not going back, I don't want to die!" Freya assured him.

Amado led them away from the centre after they'd had their share of sightseeing. They wanted to go on the London eye, but the queue was too long. Tom laughed to himself when he saw that. No different from the last time he'd visited the city.  
>"Our 'field office', so to speak, is the underground station, 'Hyde Park Corner'" Amado stated. "Any of you ever been there?" Tom shrugged.<br>"Might've been. I don't remember every station I stop at when I'm here" Tom said. Freya shrugged and stuck her bottom lip out to say 'I don't know'  
>"What about you Freddie? Was this station here last time you were in London?" Freya asked so as to include him in the conversation.<br>"I suppose it could have been. I'm no expert. And I've never been on it anyhow."  
>"Wait, but what about Hyde Park? That's like, a giant tourist attraction! And isn't it right by Buckingham Palace?" Freya asked suddenly realising why the name was so familiar, stopping Amado in his tracks.<br>"Yes, but a lot happened in a few years. You'll already know that by your time, Freya, London was shrinking at a dramatic pace, people moving to the country for the fresh air and such. And, there was a fire. It burnt the whole of Hyde Park away, along with several houses around this area and a good chunk of Buckingham Palace. And lots of equipment at the station was damaged and the entire area was pretty much abandoned. The King had plenty of other houses and the royal family just never bothered to come back. So no one notices us in our little station."  
>"A fire? That burnt away all that? How big was it?" Freya demanded to know.<br>"Devastatingly big. But it was wiped from history. All but forgotten about because nobody was killed, not even harmed." There was silence as Amado walked up to some planks of wood boarding up an entrance. He reached underneath and it opened, like a door.  
>"This is the normal way we go through. Remember that. Now, Freddie, if you just go over there, there should be a load of switches. Just click them all down for me, will you?" Freddie walked into the gloom uncertainly.<br>"Is this it?" He called. Freya walked over to check.  
>"Yup. Just press them down." She encouraged and the lights burst on.<p>

Amado led them back to the platform with the monitors on and Tom sent them a longing glance.  
>"Later, Tom, later" Amado chuckled. "Now, just another moment. There's a final teammate you need to meet"<br>"What time are they from?" Freya asked.  
>"You'll just have to wait and see" Amado said cryptically.<p> 


	6. A Time Wave

A low rumble caused Freya to look up from the teacup she was drinking from. And then, before she had time to wonder what the rumble could be a loud crash made her slam the cup down and grab onto the table in fear. Tom and Freddie had similar reactions, whilst Amado ignored it, and raised his china teacup to his mouth and sipped as the dust from the crash settled.  
>"I ought to explain that too" Amado said solemnly. He looked at his wrist and swore when he saw there was no watch there. "Well, I expect its half past four. You see, the time travel machinery, sort of 'resets' itself every two days, and today is a Friday, and every Friday at 4.29 the houses of parliament are bombed and 42 people are killed." There was a moment of stunned silence.<br>"Isn't it illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament?" Tom asked and Amado grinned.  
>"Yes, technically. But there's not much that the law can do about it once they're dead," He pointed out.<br>"Anyway, what were you saying?" Freya brought them back to the subject, deciding to leave the Houses of Parliament for later. She didn't care much for politics. "Someone else?"  
>"Aah, yes" Amado said as he stood up. "Follow me." He led them onto the platform, and then jumped onto the rails themselves.<br>"Uh, what if a train comes along?" Freddie asked nervously.  
>"Look," Amado said, pointing to the tunnel. "All bricked up. It'd be some train that knocked us down, to get through all that brick and mortar," Amado told him. Freddie nodded, reassured.<p>

Walking down the tunnel, just before they got to the bricks Amado stopped at a door. It had old warning signs all over it. 'Danger! Electric shock risk' 'Warning! Trip hazard' Amado saw Freddie looking.  
>"I keep them here as a joke. You'll see."<br>"Yes, but why would someone be hiding in here? It's just an old electrics cupboard. Is there another bedroom in here or something?" Tom asked. Amado grinned, enjoying knowing all the answers. It was driving Tom mad. Opening the door they were met by a dimly lit room. Tom walked forward to inspect it, and found hidden to one side of the door about five tubes with what appeared to be human boys at various stages of growth inside of them, floating in liquid and illuminated by orange light.  
>"Oh my God!" Freya breathed. "They're not dead are they?" She asked, disgust and fear all over her face. Tom turned to her, grinning manically.<br>"No, I think they're genetically engineered life forms. Are they?" He asked Amado, who smiled.  
>"On the nose. This one," He pointed to a fully grown, muscled man bobbing in the liquid. "will be your support unit." Freddie reached out and touched the outside of a tube with a young boy of maybe seven or eight.<br>"Mr Amado, are you sure that's not a real boy in there? Could he have gotten in maybe by mistake?" Amado chuckled.  
>"I'm positive. This boy here'll come with you whenever you go on your treks to fix time. He'll keep you safe from harm"<br>"So…so that's a real person in there though? A real _thinking _person?"  
>"No, at the moment he has the brain the size of a tiny little mouse. But it also has a silicon neural net processor and a wafer-plex storage unit in its head."<br>"A what now?"  
>"A silicon neu-" Amado stopped, realising that repeating himself wasn't going to make anything clearer to the boy. "It can store lots of information in its head. Like a computer."<br>"A computer?" Freddie asked once more. Tom's jaw flapped open.  
>"A computer, an amazing thing, the greatest invention of all time! You can do anything on them, find out anything and then there's the internet…" Tom stopped, not sure how to go about explaining the internet to Frederick, fresh out of 1916.<br>"'It's like trying to tell a stranger about rock 'n' roll'" Freya whispered, earning a frown from both boys.  
>"What?" Tom asked.<br>"It's an old song, never mind" She excused herself. Amado cleared his throat loudly.  
>"Come on, we need to birth it now." Amado hit a button on a control panel. "I'd stand back." He suggested.<p>

A roll of thick liquid poured onto the ground followed by the life form, coated in the stuff. For a second there was silence. Freya had just opened her mouth to ask if it was OK, when the form had a small spasm. Slowly it stood up. Pink goo came out of its mouth in a flood.  
>"Is it sick?" Freya asked in disgust.<br>"It's emptying the liquid from its lungs. If you two want to go and find some clothes for it I'll show Tom how to download the data into the-" Amado paused, considering Freddie. "Into its head."

…

"No, I think we were supposed to go left down there and right _here."_ Freddie insisted.  
>"No, he definitely said first right, and <em>then <em>left." Freya said as they stood, not sure which way to go.  
>"Well, I suppose if we walk around long enough we'll either come back to them or find it. I mean it can't be too hard to find a giant staircase, right?" Freddie asked. Freya sighed.<br>"_Escalators. _They're like moving staircases except they probably won't be moving anymore, metal looking." Freddie looked confused at this.  
>"Then surely if they're not moving that makes them just stairs?" Freya rolled her eyes trying to look nonchalant even though she was beaten.<br>"Fine then. _Stairs. _Either way we need to find them. If only the old underground direction signs were still up, I can't think why anyone would take them down." Freya said huffily.  
>"Neither can I. It's just asking for two directionally challenged people like us to get lose in this place" Freya smiled and reminded herself that it wasn't entirely her fault they were lost.<br>"Underground stations were never this big when I came here with my family" Freya complained. Freddie shrugged.

…

"We can send the data via Bluetooth, it'll take several minutes but before you know it he'll be as smart as you like"  
>"Fantastic! Where did you get all this? It's…it's brilliant!" Tom stroked the keyboard, not looking for an answer. Then he turned to look at the, well, what he supposed he could call a 'living organism'. Still naked.<br>"Um, when will Freya and Freddie get back with the clothes? I think I've had my fair share of naked people already today." Amado frowned.  
>"I don't know, and come to think of it I think I told them to go right first, but the wardrobe is <em>left <em>and then right. I hope they find it OK" Tom decided the best he could do was investigate the technology further.

They finally found the escalators and there at the top the clothes were, in what once could've been an information desk or ticket office.  
>"Mr Amado said the biggest ones we could find. Said there was a whole drawer full of stuff that'd fit him if we looked."<br>"Here!" Freya cried as she lifted up a pair of jeans that looked like they might fit a giant, after puzzlingly looking through drawers of clothes that wouldn't look out of place in Tudor England, or Native America.

They ran back to the platform, confidant of the way now. Every now and then they had to stop to pick up the odd piece of underwear that had slipped out from under their arms. Freddie was certain they'd left a trail of the slippery things.  
>Suddenly Freya stopped.<br>"What is it?" Freddie asked, waiting for her.  
>"Ugh. Nothing, just a dizzy spell"<p>

"Did you feel that?" Amado asked in panic.  
>"Feel what?" Tom said, looking up from the screen which had just come up with 'Data transfer complete'.<br>Freya and Freddie burst out from the corridors and onto the platform.  
>"Thank God." Amado said. "Give him some clothes to put on, we need to go outside. I'll try and explain the rest of everything as we go" <p>

Freya, Tom and Freddie were all but running to keep up with Amado and the support unit.  
>"Freya, your job is the observer. You need to become familiar with the two-day world out there and as soon as you see something out of place, you let everyone else know. It could be the beginning of a time wave. You might also be able to feel them, a moment of sickness or dizziness and disorientation" Freya opened her mouth to say something but Amado put up a hand to silence her.<br>"Tom, you're our analyst. You work the computers. You locate the source of disruption when time goes wrong. And Freddie, you're our operative. You get sent back in time with the support unit to fix time, or to get information. And now can you think of a name for the support unit? Quickly? I think something has gone wrong"  
>"Xavier?" Freya suggested. Tom snorted.<br>"Too fancy. Fred."  
>"You're not naming him after me!"<br>"Fine then. Alex" Tom suggested.  
>"No way! I have a cousin called Alex. A real arty kinda guy. He likes reading, drawing, origami, that kind of stuff. Nothing like, um, <em>that.<em>" Freya nodded to the support system.  
>"Gregory?" Freddie put forward.<br>"Greg?" Freya shortened. Tom had no argument.  
>"Great. Greg it is then." Amado said with no particular delight as he opened the door built into the age-old rotting wood.<p>

Out on the street Freya, Freddie and Tom had trouble keeping up with Amado's brisk pace. Freddie noted with a smile that Amado's marching would've earnt a nod from his head officer, back in the trenches.

Amado froze in his track, eyes fixated on the horizon. Freya strained to see what he saw and only looked upon a far off heat wave. Amado swore in a way that made Freddie fiddle with his hair and look at the sky, as if expecting to be struck down by lightening. Freya wondered absentmindedly if he was Christian.  
>"See that? It looks like a heat wave, right? Wrong. That's what we call a time wave. Give it a moment or so and it'll wipe across all of time and space rewriting reality. Ideally you want to be down in the field office where you're safe. Up here you could find yourself suddenly dead and melded into a table, or worse, another person. And unfortunately this means that we've got a time mess we have to fix on our hands and I've hardly explained anything, you haven't done a single training mission and God only knows what the world is going to be like once that thing passes. I felt a minor one earlier, I should've taken the hint" Amado swore again. "We need to get inside." But before they could move the wave was upon them. All three of them kept their eyes open in avid interest, eager to know not just what could have been, but what <em>never should have been<em>.


End file.
